It tends to mean something akin to “you don’t even need to transition to be a woman, because your masculinity is already so corrupted that you effectively already are one”.
This logic isn’t in contradiction with their transphobia, but in fact synergises with it. Trans men are seen as having no right to intrude upon the privileged position of masculinity, and trans women are seen as even more horrifying due to the fact that they willingly eschew their masculinity — something that’s incomprehensible to someone whose personal identity is 90% whatever hegemonic masculinity tells them to be.
A friend remarked to me once that one of the reasons she found transition liberating was because she had been bullied all her life for being too effeminate, so coming out as trans felt like shouting “you can’t fire me, I quit!”
It tends to mean something akin to “you don’t even need to transition to be a woman, because your masculinity is already so corrupted that you effectively already are one”.
This logic isn’t in contradiction with their transphobia, but in fact synergises with it. Trans men are seen as having no right to intrude upon the privileged position of masculinity, and trans women are seen as even more horrifying due to the fact that they willingly eschew their masculinity — something that’s incomprehensible to someone whose personal identity is 90% whatever hegemonic masculinity tells them to be.
A friend remarked to me once that one of the reasons she found transition liberating was because she had been bullied all her life for being too effeminate, so coming out as trans felt like shouting “you can’t fire me, I quit!”